- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Samajwadi Party, a major party in the key state of Uttar Pradesh, refused to give three crucial constituencies to the Indian National Congress for the upcoming elections.
By: Shubham Ghosh
IT seems India’s opposition forum Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) has entered an endless dark tunnel. Following the pull-out of two major north India-based parties such as Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Lok Dal and the decision by some parties such as the Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party against allying with the Indian National Congress in the states of West Bengal and Punjab, respectively, a alliance is set to experience a fresh blow.
It has been reported that the highly anticipated alliance between the Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP), a major party in India’s key political state of Uttar Pradesh, has fallen through. Negotiations over sharing of seats between the two parties witnessed a breakdown late on Monday (19) night and if sources are to be believed, it was primarily due to lack of consensus over three seats in Moradabad division in western Uttar Pradesh, India Today reported.
The collapse comes after SP supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said unequivocally that his party would not take part in Congress leader’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, a cross-country march which he has currently undertaken from the eastern to the western end of India, unless a seat-sharing agreement is finalised.
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According to India Today, the Grand-Old Party had also sought from the SP the seat of Bijnor but the latter was unwilling to give either Moradabad or Bijnor, complicating the scenario. It also did not agree to give the seat of Ballia, the report added.
The Congress, however, said that there was no breakdown in talks with the SP and that the discussion on seat-sharing is in the final stage. The party’s general secretary, KC Venugopal, said an announcement would be made soon.
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The SP reportedly offered the Congress 17 seats in the Lok Sabha or the Lower House of the parliament from Uttar Pradesh to contest from, excluding the contentious ones. Previously, it had offered 11 seats to the former but added more seats with a demand for more.
Sources said the constituencies agreed upon included Amethi, Rae Bareli, Prayagraj, Deoria, Varanasi, Bansgaon, Barabanki, Kanpur, Maharajganj, Jhansi, Mathura, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Fatehpur Sikri, Hathras and Saharanpur.
When asked about seat-sharing talks with Congress hitting a dead-end, SP parliamentarian and the wife of Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, refused to divulge much.
“Senior leaders are holding discussion. If something happens, it will be known. I am in Mainpuri, I don’t know what decision is being taken regarding Akhilesh’s participation in Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra,” she was quoted as saying by Aaj Tak/India Today.
On Monday, the SP declared 11 more candidates for the upcoming general elections from Uttar Pradesh, adding to its first list of 16 candidates.
Uttar Pradesh sends 80 members to the popularly elected Lok Sabha, the most for any state in India. The Bharatiya Janata Party of prime minister Narendra Modi and its ally Apna Dal (Soneylal) won 64 seats in the 2019 general elections. The Congress could win only one while the SP got five.
In 2019, the BJP on its own won 62 Lok Sabha seats out of the state’s 80. The Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, which had entered into a pre-poll alliance, secured 15 seats. The Congress, which went alone, bagged only a single seat.
